GUATEMALA CITY – More than 300 vintage and classic vehicles of different makes, models and countries of manufacture dating from 1901 to 1980 will be exhibited this coming weekend in Guatemala during the 10th “El Rock de los Carros” festival.

The Sunday event will give visitors a chance to view a great variety of old cars and has two goals, according to the project’s founder, Cesar Garcia: allowing people to indulge in “the fondness for antique cars and the desire to help others.”

All revenues collected at the non-profit festival will be donated to three Mercy Houses in San Cristobal, San Lucas Toliman and Chimaltenango providing care for children and the elderly around the country.

The Mercy Houses foundation works to provide food to more than a million children 5 years of age and younger who suffer from chronic malnutrition, as well as to nearly 300,000 seniors lacking any other means of support.

The festival, considered to be the most important of its type in Central America, has been growing over the years and exhibition organizer Luis Garcia said the 10th edition will include a show by the Guatemalan army of some of its most classic vehicles.

Children will have access to an entertainment area on Campo Marte, which will function as the fairgrounds and where characters from the movie “Cars” will be on hand and period music played, said Erik Quan, the marketing manager for Super Cola, one of the event’s sponsors.

“Charity is one of the pillars for building a united and peaceful Guatemala,” he said. “We want to help institutions with a social mission to achieve their goals in making positive and sustainable changes in many people’s lives.”

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